


Lengths

by friendlyneighborhoodirondad



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Young Nate, Young-ish Sully
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29702544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighborhoodirondad/pseuds/friendlyneighborhoodirondad
Summary: Nate and Sully are on a job for an old Navy buddy. It goes wrong, of course. Did you expect anything different?
Relationships: Nathan Drake & Victor Sullivan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Lengths

**Author's Note:**

> I recently went through my old works and bookmarks for these two and fell in love again. This is short and sweet, but please enjoy!

"Stop fidgeting. You're gonna make us look fishy."

"I'm just excited. It's not everyday you meet your partner's ex-navy buddy."

Sully grunts, rolling his cigar between his teeth. "He's just like any other contact we've had. Don't get your hopes up and make this into some big thing."

"But I'll finally have someone to ask about your poop deck days," Nate laughs in all his 17 year old glory. "You've been real tight-lipped about the whole thing. It'd be cool to get the story behind the legend."

"If you don't shut your trap, I'm relegating you to the car for this job."

Nate huffs and folds his arms. "Whatever. You're no fun."

The pair don't have to wait much longer as the sleepy restaurant's door swings open with a happy tingle. Three men step inside, looking the part in every way possible. Sully picks Bill out easily. His face and his frame are the same as they were all those years ago. Sully grips his shoulder at the phantom pain of the table Bill smashed him through for cheating at cards (although, Sully swears Bill was cheating, too). The man could take on a rhino and win.

Bill spreads his arms out with a shit-eating grin. "Well, I'll be damned. If it isn't Victor 'Assless-Chaps' Sullivan."

Sully studiously ignores the giant mischievous grin spreading across the kid's face as he gives his friend a companionable clap on the back. "How's life been treating you, Private Walsh?"

"Too good, my friend."

"I can see that," Bill says, nodding at Nate. "Never thought I'd see the day where Sullivan would be saddled with a kid."

"He's not my kid," Sully quickly says, watching Nate blanch out of the corner of his eye. It's a sore subject that unfortunately gets brought up a lot.

"Okay... then why's he here?" Bill asks, jabbing his thumb at the kid.

" _He_ can speak for himself," Nate shoots back, eyes narrowing. "We're partners."

Bill snorts and says, "Whatever you say, kid. Why don't you go take a nap while me and Sullivan have a grownup talk."

Nate fumes silently, face turning red. Not wanting to chase away their contact, unsure of how to proceed, or just plain embarrassed, the kid makes eye contact with Sully, asking him to step in.

Sully clears his throat, trying to push down his own anger, and says, "The kid stays. He's learning. And besides, he's probably smarter than you and me combined. So get used to it."

Bill raises his hands in surrender, that stupid smug smile still firmly on his face.

_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..._ Sully thinks to himself.

"Alrighty then, let's get this show on the road. Here's the deal..."

_Too late..._

~%~

"Nice work, kid," Sully says, watching Nate deftly extracting the bejeweled dohicky from the display case. Sully couldn't tell you where it was from or why it's important (Nate had seemed excited about it, so it must be historically significant), but the emerald set deep in the artifact is worth thousands.

Nate shoots him a quick smile while dropping it into the sack slung over Sully's shoulder. "Thanks. Can we hit McDonald's? I have a serious craving for some chicken nuggets."

"I think I saw a Wendy's near our motel."

"Wendy's is not McDonalds's."

"They're burger joints. What's the difference?"

"The nugget batters are so different they're basically in different food groups."

"Well, excuse me for wanting a goddamn Frosty."

Nate laughs and nudges Sully's shoulder. "I guess we'll just have to stop at both."

The pair make their way out of the warehouse without tripping any alarms or notifying the singular security guard on duty. And just as Sully thinks they might get away clean, things blow up in their face. Literally.

Sully and Nate are blown apart by a grenade that rolled to a stop at their feet. Something in Sully's chest pulls at the sound Nate makes when he hits the ground. Then his head smacks the ground, and the world blacks out.

~%~

When Sully's senses return to him, he's alone. No faceless attackers. No gangly teenager.

Fuck.

Sully searches and searches the grounds well into the night and up until sunshine. The kid is nowhere to be found. He takes his rental truck to the nearest gas station to use their payphone. And after feeding three quarters into the phone, Sully knows exactly who the kid's with. Just not where.

But it won't take long for him to figure it out.

~%~

48 hours later, Sully finds himself scoping out a nondescript warehouse for the most discreet entrance. He makes the decision to go through a second floor window and drop in from the rafters in the middle of the action.

He hefts himself through the windowsill, eternally grateful the window's hinges don't squeak. Sully draws his pistol and prowls around the catwalk running around the circumference of the empty warehouse. He tip toes around until he hears a raised voice coming from one of the offices on the bottom floor tucked away in a corner. Luckily, there's a catwalk that leads directly over the partitioned area. Sully settles into a crouch and peers over the ledge to plan his approach, but what he sees causes his blood to boil over.

Nate, bruised, bloody, and tied to a chair, grunts and wheezes as one of Bill's goons jabs him in the stomach. "I'm losing my patience, kid," Bill says, standing in front of the main event, arms crossed.

"I know, that's the third time you've said that," Nate pants, blinking as blood drips from his hairline into his eye.

Bill growls and pushes his stooge out of the way. He leans down to get in the kid's face, but Nate doesn't flinch. Sully knows the kid doesn't intimidate easily after the life he's lived. "I'm only gonna ask you one more time. Where. Is. The. Amulet?"

"And I'll tell you one more time. It's with Sully."

"Then where is he?"

"Again, he's your friend. You should call him and ask."

"You don't think if we had Sullivan here he wouldn't have ratted you out? He doesn't care about you. He's in it for the money. You can't betray someone who doesn't care."

"Does all this have a point?"

"Yes." Bill pulls out a pistol and aims it at the kid's forehead. "Last chance, kid. Your pal Sully or your life."

Sully shifts into position as Nate remains silent. _Kid's got some guts._

"Okay, fine. See you in hell, pipsqueak."

Just as Bill's about to pull the trigger, Sully drops down on goon #1 with a roar. The man crumples to the ground without a fight. Sully rolls to duck a bullet fired by goon #2 and springs up to jam his fist under the guy's chin. A few more knocks to the head and goon #2 is down for the count. Sully spins around, gun drawn, to find Bill using Nate's body as a shield. The kid gasps quietly as the muzzle of Bill's gun digs further into his temple.

"Who would have seen this coming, huh?" Bill asks. "A couple decades ago, you and me got on like a house on fire. What happened?"

"Cut the shit, Bill. Put your gun down and step away from the kid."

"Or what? You're gonna shoot me through him? Nah, nah, nah. I've seen the way you talk about this one. He may not be your kid, but you sure as hell act like it. No, I like my chances a lot better right here."

"I think you're underestimating how good of a shot I am."

"I'm not. I've seen your shooting record, Private Sullivan. You can't take the shot without risking _this_." Bill emphasizes his words by pressing the gun to Nate's head a little harder.

"Don't make me do this, Bill."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Fine."

Sully holds his breath for a few short seconds then lets off a shot. The bang is still ringing through the warehouse as Bill slumps to the ground with a hole in his head. Nate flinches and stares wide-eyed at Sully (well, as wide-eyed as one can get with a black eye). "God... You scared me."

"Sorry, kid. Desperate times, right?" Sully says, holstering his weapon and moving forward to untie Nate.

"Is he... dead?" he asks, not able to turn around to check.

"Yep." Sully holds out his arm to help the kid to his feet. "Let's head out. I've got us a new motel to lay low in for a bit."

Nate still looks a little shaken. He glances down at the body and asks, "Wasn't he your friend?"

"He was. Things change," he says, letting the kid lean on him for support.

"Hm."

The pair begin their slow limp to the rental truck. Every ten seconds or so, Sully can feel the kid's eyes on him. He really hopes this doesn't tarnish his image in Nate's eyes. Then again, they've been through worse. And Sully would so much more to keep Nate out of death's jaws. But it's only because he doesn't want to start over with a new partner. No other reason.

Once the pair are settled in the car, Sully starts the engine and throws the truck in reverse. "So, McDonald's?"

Nate grins and says, "I don't know, a Frosty sounds pretty good right about now."

"I thought you hated their goddamn chicken."

"I do, I want a burger instead."

"You don't want a Big Mac?"

"No, I want burger and Frosty, Assless-Chaps."

Sully rolls his eyes and turns out of the empty parking lot. "Wendy's it is."

"Thanks."

Sully knows Nate is thanking him for a lot more than a milkshake. Just like Nate knows Sully would do a whole lot more than fast food to keep him happy.


End file.
